I have a brand new Die Hard from my street rod that I can use for a jump start battery. I've already got the truck started in -10 weather by itself but it's going to get lot colder for sure and I can't get to a plug in.
Could I just use jumper cables and hook this battery up (in parallel) to the truck? It shouldn't matter which battery it is hooked to...12v is 12v just more amps.

any thoughts?

bentwings

 

just jump it like a regular car (parralell)

 

I still have no idea why this happened, but here's the deal when I jump started my truck...

I hooked the jumpers to the battery that isn't directly connected to the starter and I couldn't get it to start. After a few mins of fiddling around w/ it I hooked the jumpers to the other battery and it started right up. I don't get it...the batteries are hooked up in parallel...why couldn't I hook up another one in parallel to boost the amps?

Anyway...another thing you can try is cycling the grid heater a few times. Turn the key and watch for the "Wait to Start" light to go out, turn the key off, then turn the key back on and do the same thing. That'll heat things up a little more than normal and will help w/ starting.

 

Which battery did you hook up to first? I believe the one on the left (as you face the truck) is the primary battery and the one is the backup (used for starting only) and that is the one you need to hook up the jumpers to.

If you think you might have a bad battery - I would also suggest that you get a "hydrometer" if you can open the tops of your batteries and check each cell - don't rely on these shops and their "electronic" testors - I had a major fight with one for 4 days (lost 3 1/2 days of work) cause they kept saying my battery was good and I knew it wasn't, I brought the hydrometer with me and showed the idiot that there was one bad cell and that his multi-hundred dollar tester was a piece of crap!

 

Just as a point of interest, when discussing which side of the vehicle something is located on, convention holds that left and right are as sitting behind the steering wheel. So driver side is always left and passenger side is always right. Or just say driver side/passenger side. This will ensure that everyone is on the same page (including your parts house).

When boosting, I believe that since it is the starter you are trying to make turn, it would only make sense to eliminate as much current drop as possible by hooking to the battery closest to and hooked most directly to the starter.

 

I had to hook to the driver's side battery (the one hooked directly to the starter) to make it start. Hooking to the secondary battery didn't do a single thing for the situation.

 

Thanks. That's what I wanted to know.

Jump start on the drivers (left) side battery.

Don't know why but I guess that's what works.

bentwings

 

I could be wrong, but it sound to me like you have a battery problem with the right hand battery or a connection problem between to the two. I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to jump it from either side.

 

When I used my truck to jump start my van 2 weeks ago, I had to use the driver side battery. The pass. side battery had zero effect when paralleled to the van. I don't know why. My truck starts great even below zero, and my alternator tests great.